By Kayla Matt
Let’s just jump right into the list here. The topic is why writing a few scenes that focus on the villains can help your story. Again, you don’t see these very often unless the hero or a supporting character is involved. At best, you’ll get the villain screaming at his or her minions or ruing the actions of the heroes. Nothing with real meat, so here are some reasons you might want to highlight a villain.
- These scenes can bring depth to the bad guy and make them more than ‘the person that the hero has to defeat’. They become something tangible and ‘human’ with more stake in the overall story. A few good glimpses into their lives can transform the antagonist from plot to device to a memorable character.
- Hearing the story from the villain’s side can bring clarity to their motivation. Heroes will also show things as ‘that guy is evil’ and you need other villains to disagree with them. Peasants won’t do it because then you get the feeling that the antagonist isn’t really hated, which only works if that’s what you’re going for. By having the villain act and talk in front of the reader, you bring more insight into their reason for doing whatever it is that people want to stop. Even if it’s simply to be evil, a scene or two demonstrating this will lock it in place for the reader.
- You can thicken the overall plot by adding this perspective. It’s no longer a one-sided tale from the eyes of the hero. You get an idea that more is going on and that other events are occurring as the hero progresses. Otherwise, it feels like the villain is merely sitting off-stage waiting for his or her cue. Again, you want an antagonist to be a character and not just a plot device.
- A villain sees the world in a different way and they might know about the darker side of things. How does the underbelly of Windemere work? Hard to tell through Luke Callindor and the other heroes. Yet, a few scenes with the Lich or Trinity and you get an idea of what lurks in the shadows. Many starting authors spend so much time on the side of the heroes that they forget to explore the shadows, which leaves a lot of questions and curiosities. In some cases, it feels like you only see half of the world. The same thing goes for any authors who delve entirely on the side of the villains. It creates an imbalance.
- If you go by the idea that characters are like your children then you have to remember that your bad guys are part of that. You spent a lot of time making them, so why not give them a little time to shine? Personally, I like hearing compliments about my villains and knowing they have some fans. That wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t give them a few personal scenes.
Legends of Windemere 
I find my villains far more interesting to write than my heroes. It’s probably why I absolutely love it when I get to read from a villain’s perspective too. Throw my three years of studying philosophy on top of it and it ends up with the lovely question: What is a villain?
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The person you disagree with. That or the guy who kicks puppies for fun.
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I love villain scenes. I put them in my books to show what a complete and utter bastard the baddie is and make them hate him more… but I’m with you on all counts there. And it can really freshen things up somehow.
Cheers
MTM
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I do that a few times, but I also use them to give a little more insight to my villains. Honestly, I don’t have many true bastards in my stories. I like having a glint of decency in a villain. For example, a sense of loyalty even to an evil master or a soft spot for the innocent. To me, it brings more depth to the characters. After all, villains should be allowed to have a little ‘light’ if heroes are asked to have a little ‘dark’.
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Good point, although to be honest, my current villain is pure Bond. The villain in the next book is much more like that, in that he is a politician and it’s a case of the goodies persuading him that to side with them is expedient to his ambitions.
Cheers
MTM
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Bond villains were always comical in the way that they weren’t really redeeming. Jaws was cool though.
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Yeh, I liked Jaws. The comic aspect is exactly why the current one is Bondish I think. The book’s fairly light so there’s definitely a dash of comic bad in him. Think the Sheriff of Nottingham, as played by Alan Rickman, I guess. None of my books is very serious although I’d like to think they have depth.
Cheers
MTM
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Rickman had some dark humor in that movie. That’s a very dynamic character type in my mind. Not cartoonish like a Bond villain, but a witty sarcasm that is almost accidental.
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That’s interesting, I agree with dynamic but I think he’s still quite Bondish, to me, because he has that cold detachment, that they have, too. Some of the Bond villains have failed to stand the test of time and are a bit humorous from a modern perspective, but at the time, when I first saw them, they were the height of creepy. I guess the baddies in 1960s TV, generally, inform the way the one in my W.I.P. acts. People are his pawns to use as he sees fit, he considers himself superior, he is sarcastic, sadistic and a thorough cad.
Only time will tell if I’ve managed to make it stick.
Cheers
MTM
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Probably my perspective then. For example, Goldfinger is rather hilarious to me. Greedy, evil, but oddly comical in how he operates. I guess the presentation is that you get the feeling that he is being cartoonish on purpose. With the Sheriff, I got the sense that his comical parts weren’t intentional. It was more rage-induced like threatening someone with a spoon and having a logical reason for it. Then again, I’ve done that at times.
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I don’t have many villains in my poems! lol If I ever get around to finishing one of my many novels, your villain post will be something I think about when forming an evil character. I usually like the evil characters better than the heroes. Maybe it’s the whole “badboy” thing! lol
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Many people prefer the villains. I think we like to see the darker side since we can never indulge in it. Not unless we want to be criminals.
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I think I’ve seen enough of my “dark side” to last a lifetime! lol I will stick to reading or watching villains from now on!
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Yeah. I don’t think many people indulge or face their dark side. At least not many that I’ve met.
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As an addict, I overindulged, so I’m trying to indulge in my “light” side these days 🙂 The dark side can be scary! lol
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It can be easily fallen into too. Doesn’t compare with you, but I fall into bad eating habits easily when stressed or bored.
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I fall into that too!! I get nut butter happy. Cashew is the most addictive!!
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When I write the villain as a POV, it usually comes across as ridiculous cackling and gloating. So I almost never have villains as the POV! However, to do often have two POV characters who are on opposite sides of a problem, and their conflict outlines that problem until the point of resolution is reached. This is what I did in my latest books The Seven Exalted Orders and the forthcoming Grimhold Wolf. In both cases, two characters were on a collision course while the actual “villain” was busy but not a POV character.
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My villains can fall into the gloating at times. Strange how that’s an instinctive trait for villainy. I tend to clean it up in edits. I’m wondering if I define POV differently after reading the comments. Do you have any scenes that focus on the villain? Like a few pages that show what they’re doing and saying?
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